Martin Wickremasinghe Folk Museum :

Tribute to the most outstanding 20th century Lankan writer

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

V.K. Wickremasinghe

Gallery of Traditional Transport

“My physique developed in the same way that the bodies of other Sinhala villagers grew. My mind developed in a different way. I did not receive education from a prestigious school or a pundit. Knowledge came to me from the books I read and through my life's experiences.

“The teacher who read me my first letter from an ola leaf manuscript was not a man versed in Sanskrit and Pali. He did not even have a strong command of the Sinhala language. Benefiting from the experience of having taught the village children their letters for years, he was an old man who was a good teacher. He won my respect and love and that of my parents and sisters by teaching children the letters patiently, joyfully and with a sense of calm control”.

The above was extracted from the autobiography, Upanda Sita (From the beginning) of the most outstanding Lankan writer of the 20th century Martin Wickremasinghe. Popularly known as the sage of Koggala, the small southern coastal village where he was born on May 29, 1890 and died on July 23, 1976 at the age of 86 ending an exceptional career dedicated to the Sinhala language, its literature and folk culture. The much he had contributed to society is immense.

Wickremasinghe who has written over a dozen novels including Madol Doova, Gamperaliya, Viragaya, Kaliyugaya, Yuganthaya and Kaluwara Gedara as well as over 100 publications of short stories, literary criticisms and dramas in the areas of philosophy and allied subjects, evolution and anthropology, history, travel, biology and autobiography have been recognised locally and internationally as an eminent author.

Research

The research and studies he had done in the Sri Lankan folk culture, finding the roots of ancient traditions have been of much use which are preserved to date. However, this article is not about the great writer himself but the folk culture museum set up to preserve his work and many artefacts collected by him and his second generation.

Traditional fishing traps

With his demise in 1976 a Trust was set up by his children who decided to preserve his work and the Martin Wickremasinghe Folk Culture Museum was established in Koggala. The museum was built in an eight-acre land where his ancestral home lies which is over 200 years old. In 1983 the Government granted a certain extent of land to the original land belonging to the ancestral home to establish the museum.

The Folk Culture Museum Complex consists of seven main sections as the ancestral house where Wickramasinghe was born, the Hall of Life, the Samadhi where his ashes have been interred, the Museum of Folk Culture, the Exhibition of Traditional Transport, Fishing Boats and the Restored Eco-environment.

The museum is maintained by the Martin Wickremasinghe Trust comprising Chairman Ven Akuretyiye Amarawansa Nayaka Thera, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the elder son S K Wickremasinghe, second son and Trustee V.K. Wickremasinghe, Secretary and the third son Dr. Ranga Wickremasinghe, daughter and trustee Rupa Saparamadu and Trustees Dr. H.R. Wickremasinghe, Maninda Wickremasinghe, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara and Gunasena Vithana.

The Museum of Folk Culture exhibits a wide range of folk artefacts found in the main traditional industries of farming and fishing which were the two chief livelihoods of the people of Koggala. Also religious artefacts of Buddhist statues, stupas, items used by Bhikkhus made out of various material including bronze are displayed along with separate galleries for traditional costumes and dresses, needle weaving, puppetry, masks, furniture and kitchen utensils.

One section depicts how the traditional literature was written using ola leaves and how the children were taught their first letters by writing on sand boards and the evolution of the Sinhala alphabet.

Fishing

Traditional literature and ola leaves

Traditional needle weaving

In the traditional industries section the various types of equipment and accessories used in fishing and farming are displayed. The types of vessels, boats, fishing traps and items related to paddy farming such as ploughs and rice measuring vessels.

A range of masks is prominent among the many exhibits in the museum. All types of masks used in traditional folk drama are displayed here along with puppets of the Ambalangoda era. The typical kitchen of a Sinhala home is another part where an entire kitchen with all its effects is set up. The types of cooking utensils, vessels, spoons, coconut scrapers used by the ancient Sinhala families are also seen.

Another main attraction is the gallery of traditional transport where a range of carts and buggies are displayed in a separate section outside the main gallery. A collection of over 20 varieties of bullock carts is displayed here which had been used to transport people and logistics. Two of the most interesting vehicles are the single person cart or commonly referred to as the Bana Karattaya for transporting monks and the huge cart pulled by an elephant.

The latter had been donated to the museum by the former Prime Minister Sirmavo Bandaranaike.

Explaining the history of the land of the museum, one of the trustees V.K. Wickremasinghe said the land was once taken over by the Royal Air Force in 1942 during World War II to use it as as an airbase. The house and the land was later handed back to the family.

The Folk Culture Museum is maintained by the Martin Wickremasinghe Trust funded solely by the financial contributions of the family members including the eldest sibling S.K. Wickremasinghe. It has been ascribed by many schools as a place with an educational interest for schoolchildren who visit it in large numbers throughout the year. The income from the entrance fee charged from visitors barely meets the maintenance cost of the entire museum complex which has to be undertaken by the Trust Fund.

One thing a visitor would not miss is the flat elevated square of land being established next to the ancestral home of the late Wickremasinghe covered with a special type of grass. The Samadhi is the place where the ashes of Martin Wickremasinghe and his wife Prema Wickremasinghe had been interred.